Influence of the energy and velocity spread in the electron beam on the starting conditions and efficiency of a gyrotron

We study theoretically the influence of the spread of initial energies and velocities in the electron beam on the starting conditions and efficiency of a gyrotron. We compare various analytical and numerical models and the results of experimental studies of gyrotrons in which the interaction takes place at the first and second harmonics of the cyclotron frequency. The aftercavity interaction of the electron beam with the high-frequency field in the output waveguide transition is taken into account. The influence of the energy spread on the recuperation efficiency is estimated. Permissible spreads of the initial energies and electron velocities are determined. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 121–133, February 2006.